Four Things Learned In the Time of Trouble

Now let's turn in our Bibles
again to the book of Job, chapter 1. The Lord moves in mysterious
ways his wonders to perform. And why I'm bringing this particular
message this morning, I don't know, but I'm sure he knows.
And in seeking a message for you for this hour, this is the
one he laid on my heart. And I've been thinking about
it now several days since I first began to work on it last Wednesday.
Four things we should learn in time of trouble. Now, Job was
greatly troubled. I suppose as few men in this
world have been troubled. Job lost everything that he had
at one time. You notice while I was reading
the first chapter of Job, as these reports were coming in,
this was repeated over and over again. While he was yet speaking,
another messenger came. While he was yet speaking, another
messenger came. And this man of God was greatly
troubled. He went through a deep sea of
sorrow. Let's read a few things that
he said about it. First of all, in the 16th chapter
of Job, verse 11 and 12, Job 16, 11 and 12, God hath delivered
me to the ungodly. Turn me over to Satan. Turn me
over into the hands of the wicked. And that's exactly what happened.
God turned Job over into the hands of Satan. Verse 12, I was
at ease, but he hath broken me asunder. And Don, in his prayer,
described our condition. We are at ease. We have everything
at this present time. That's where Joe was. I was at
ease, but he hath broken me asunder. He hath also taken me by my neck,
and shaken me to pieces, and set me up for his mark. Now Job
19, let's look over here a moment. He describes his condition again.
Job 19, verse 9 and 10. Maybe God's preparing us, you,
me, some individual here, all of us, for a visit of judgment. But Job 19, 9. He has stripped
me of my glory, taken the crown from my head. He hath destroyed
me on every side, and I am gone. And hope hath he removed like
a tree. Now Job 23 speaks of it again. He said in Job 23,
8, Behold, I go forward, and he's not there. I can't find
an answer. I can't find a reason for this.
I go backward, and I can't perceive him. On the left hand, where
he doth work, I cannot behold him. He hideth himself on the
right hand, and I cannot see him. But I know this. He knows
the way that I take. When he hath tried me, I shall
come forth as gold." Now, in Job 1, when all of this
came to pass, all of this heavy sorrow and trial, Job didn't
try to hide his sorrow. Job wept before God. It says
in verse 20, Job arose and rent his mantle and shaved his head. He wept before God. There's nothing
wrong with weeping. There's nothing wrong with mourning
in time of sorrow. Actually, the Lord's children
are people, or should be people, with tender feelings. Someone
said, he takes away our heart of stone, but he doesn't turn
the heart to stone. And Paul wrote, we sorrow, but
not as those who have no hope. We sorrow. We feel every lash. We feel the rod. When we go through
trial, we feel the burden. We feel the load. There's no
sin in mourning. There's no sin in weeping. Paul
said, I have continual sorrow. I have great heaviness of heart. And then Peter said, if need
be, you are now in heaviness through many, many temptations. We don't wish to be callous,
though we believe in God's absolute sovereignty. And though we believe
in God's purpose in all things, we do not want to be callous
and indifferent, and we do not want to be unfeeling but tender,
tender-hearted. In fact, Paul commanded us in
his book of Ephesians, he said, Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted,
tender-hearted. So don't be ashamed of tears,
and don't be ashamed of sorrow, and don't be ashamed to mourn,
and don't be ashamed to grieve. And then secondly, though God's
people are tenderhearted and they do sorrow in time of trial,
all sorrow should be sanctified by worship. Now look at verse
20 again. When all of these reports had
come in, Job arose and he tore his clothing and shaved his head
and fell down upon the ground and worshiped. He didn't murmur. He didn't complain, he didn't
grumble, he didn't find fault with the providence of God. He
did not compare his lot with the lot of others. Why this happened
to me and it didn't happen to him or it didn't happen to her?
No, he worshiped God. When all of these reports came
in, one at a time, he didn't murmur or complain or find fault
with God's providence. He did mourn. He did grieve. He wept. I know his tears must
have come forth like rivers of water. It must have been uncontrollable
for a moment when all of these reports, everything you've got,
your family, your children, are all destroyed. You have nothing. But his sorrow was sanctified
by worship. I want to show you one of the
most beautiful verses in the entire Bible. Turn to Matthew
14. In Matthew 14, there's a tremendous message here, Matthew 14. John
the Baptist was loved by his disciples. John the Baptist,
when he was about 33 years of age, was beheaded by King Herod. And it must have been a tremendous
blow to these men who had lived with him and walked with him
and benefited by his ministry and loved him so much. And I
want you to see what they did. In Matthew 14, verse 12, and
his disciples came and took up the body and buried it. And what
does it say? And they went and told Jesus.
And they went and told Jesus. And this is the picture here
we have. Job, all of these sorrows had come upon him, these great
burdens, these terrible reports had come in one at a time, all
of your children are dead, All of your property is gone, all
of your cattle and sheep and camels and everything is swept
away. Man, you are alone in this world. There's nothing left.
And he mourned, he cried out, but then he went and told the
Lord. He worshiped. So if grief presses
you to the ground, worship right there. If trial has laid you
low, worship right there. If burdens have stripped you,
Lie right there and worship God. If floods of sorrow have weighed
you down, worship right there. Worship God. Now thirdly, this
is the introduction. First of all, the children of
God are tender, or should be, and they weep and they mourn
and they grieve, just like anybody else. Not without hope, but they
grieve. And there's nothing wrong with
grieving. There's nothing wrong with tears. Nothing wrong with
sorrow, nothing wrong with weeping before God. But all weeping and
all sorrow and all grief ought to be sanctified by worship.
And then thirdly, a time of trial and a time of sorrow should be
not only a time for worship, but a time for teaching. Teaching. Now evidently Job thought so,
for these verses are proof of his consideration and thoughtfulness
during this time. David did that. Turn to Psalm
42. Let me show you something. David
talked to himself. Did you know that? He talked
to himself. He talked to himself as if he
were two persons. And he answered himself. He talked
to himself during time of trial and sorrow and great pressures. David, you read his Psalms, you'll
find him talking to himself. Here's an example, Psalm 42 beginning
with verse 5. Why art thou cast down, O my
soul? Why art thou disquieted in me?
Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him for the help of
his countenance. O my God, my soul is cast down
within me, Therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan,
and of the Hermonites from the hill Miser." David is speaking
to himself. David is talking to himself as
if he's talking to another person, and he's learning something from
this time. Why are you cast down, O my soul? Hope in God, trust
in God. Why are you behaving as you are?
You know, The Word of God tells us to examine ourselves whether
we be in the faith. The Word of God says, when we
come to the Lord's table, let a man examine himself whether
he discerns the Lord's body. Peter said, give diligence to
make your calling and election sure. So, especially in time
of great conflict, in time of great sorrow, in time of great
trial, That is the time for teaching. That's the time for examination.
That's the time for looking into our hearts. And that's what Job
did here, and he learned four things that he talks about. Four
things. Now, here's the first one. Job
learned the brevity of life. Now, when all of these messengers
came, Job says, I was at ease. And then suddenly, God took me
up by the back of the neck and shook me to pieces. I was at
ease. And suddenly, I was without. Suddenly, there was nothing.
And he learned four things, the first of which is this. He learned
the brevity of life. Look at verse 21. And he said,
naked I came out. of my mother's womb, and naked
shall I return thither." I came and I shall return. I came forth
one day from Mother Earth, and one of these days I expect to
return. This is Job's description of
life. This is his idea of life, and
it's a very true one. I came and I shall return. One day there was a man standing
on the street corner and a friend of his walked up to him. And
the friend, they exchanged greetings and the time of day, and then
the friend looked at him and said, I've got a question to
ask you. And the other man said, well,
go ahead. He said, will you tell me, will you tell me what life,
what life really is? And the friend stood there silently.
and just turned and walked away. And nothing else was said. Well,
the next day they met again. And the man who had asked the
question walked up and said, Say, he said, Yesterday I asked
you a question and you didn't answer me. And the other man
said, But I did answer you. He said, I beg your pardon, you
did not answer me. You were here for a moment and
then you were gone. And the man replied, You ask
me what life really is? And that was my answer. We're
here for a moment, and then we're gone. We come, and then we're
gone. That's what Job is saying here,
I came, I came, one day there was rejoicing, the birth of a
boy, the birth of a son, the birth of a baby. And he said,
in a few days, man is born a woman, full of trouble. In a few days
he goes like a vapor steam, he said, or like a beautiful flower,
or like a shatter passing through. I see life this way. This is
the way I see life. I see life like a procession. I see my grandparents. I see my parents. I see me, I
see my sons and daughters, I see among them my friends, I see
them going by one by one. I see them going by. They're
here and then they're gone. And then others come behind them.
But the difficult thing for us to see, we see that, don't you
see that? We see them coming, they come and they go. They're
here and they're gone. The difficult thing for us is
to put ourselves in that procession. That's what's difficult, is to
put ourselves there. I know my dad's life was brief,
he came and he's gone. My brother's life was brief,
he came and he's gone. Rob's life, he came and he's
gone. All these friends of ours here,
the seats where they used to sit. They were here just a little
while ago, now they're gone. And others have taken their places,
and after a while some more are going to be gone, and others
will take their places. Are we so blind that we can't
see ourselves sitting in that possession? Someone said one
time, we're like dumb cattle. He said they're out there grazing
in the field, all these black Angus Beef cattle are out there
grazing in the field, and the butcher comes out there, and
he wraps a rope around a neck and takes one off, and the others
don't even raise their head. They just keep eating away. They're
next, but they don't pay attention to it. And he comes out and gets
another one and takes it away. They just keep eating away. They
don't even look up. A man ought to spend much of
his time considering the brevity of life here on this earth. I
don't mean to become morbid about it. I mean to occupy till Christ
comes. I mean to rejoice till Christ
comes. I mean to praise his name. But let's don't lose sight of
the fact that we're just here for a little while. Job said,
I came and I'm going to return. If we would think about it and
consider everything in the light of death and judgment, maybe
we could talk like Simeon. Lord, now let thy servant depart
in peace. I have seen thy salvation. Maybe
we could employ the language of Paul. I have a desire to depart
and be with Christ, for me to live is Christ and to die is
gain. But one thing that came suddenly
home to Job here is the brevity of life. The brevity of life. I believe if we considered life
in the light of death and our own lives in the light of how
short they really are, I believe we'd have less time for conflict
and we'd have less time for complaining, we'd have less time for making
ourselves and other people miserable. We'd have more time for praise
and more time for worship and more time for compliments and
more time for the beauties of life, instead of spending these
few short moments that we have complaining and criticizing God's
providence. I may not have but one more week
on this earth. I trust and pray that it might
be one lived for the glory of God, for praising his name, rejoicing
in his truth, the brevity of life. All right, secondly, the
second thing Job learned. He said, I came and I'm going
to leave. I came and I'm going to leave. The second thing he learned was
this, the frailty of earthly possessions. The frailty of earthly
possessions. He said, the Lord gave and the
Lord had taken away. Now, I heard a story this week
that impressed me. I want your attention right here. I don't know when I've ever had
anything impress me any more than this right here. There was a successful Christian
talking to his pastor one day, sitting in his living room. His
pastor was sitting there, and some of his brethren from the
church and the sisters were there. They were having a little fellowship
in his home. Now, you can live this just as I can live it, because
we have a lot of good fellowship with one another. Some of you
will leave here and go to the restaurant to eat your lunch,
and you'll be around one another, and you'll enjoy one another.
That's so pleasant. go to your homes and the family
will be there. That's the way this man was. He was healthy.
His children were there, his wife, his pastor, his brethren. His home was so nice. It was
cold outside but warm in here. The fire was going in the fireplace. He was surrounded by all these
good things. And suddenly a tear came in his
eye. And he looked at his pastor.
And he waved his hand over all these things. And he said, Pastor,
these are the things that make it hard to die. These are the things that make
it hard to die. You see what he's saying? Have you ever walked through
a plowed field? I know you have. I was raised
in the country, and many of you were. I didn't do a whole lot
of plowing. I'd starve to death on the best 40 acres and the
best bottom land. I don't know a lot about farming,
but I've walked through a plowed field after it rained. Have you
ever done that? You start out walking real good
with ease, but the more you walk, the more clay you gather on your
feet. And after a while you're walking
real slow because you've gathered all that clay on your feet, and
the more clay you gather on the feet, the harder it is to walk
and the slower you step. And as we go through life, we
gather an awful lot of clay on our feet, don't we? And it makes
it hard to leave the field. And that's what this man was
saying. He looked around at his wife and children and his friends
and his pastor and his church and his health and everything,
that makes it hard to die. Well, God made it easy for Job,
didn't he? God made it easy for Job. It's
a lot easier to die when everything you've got is over yonder. It's
a lot harder to die when everything you've got is down here. God
made it easier for Job. He took everything he had away.
And perhaps he'll have to do that for me or for you, so that
our affections will be ordered aright. It's a shame that we
can't learn the frailty of these things. It's a shame that we
can't learn the frailty of these possessions and these relationships. It's a shame that we put so much
emphasis on them. Job said, naked I came into this
world. I came here naked. I came here
without anything. And that's the way I'm going
to leave. It's not mine. I've just gathered this clay.
I came here naked. I came here stripped. And I gathered
all these associations and these relationships and these possessions
as I spent time on this earth. I've gathered these things. They're mine for a little while.
And they draw us to this earth. They keep our affections down
here where a man's treasure is, there's where his heart is going
to be, Christ said. And it may be. I hope it doesn't have to
be this way. I hope God doesn't have to deal
with us this way and start lifting these things away so that we'll
put our affections where they ought to be. He's jealous of
the affections of his people. He said, I'm a jealous God. Thou
shalt have no other God before me. God's not going to punish
a man because he has a nice family. God's not going to punish a man
because he and his wife have a happy home. God's not going
to punish a man because he has a good church and a gracious
fellowship. God's not going to punish a man
because he's prosperous. But where God will deal with
that man is when these things become too important. That's our problem. When we can't
turn loose of them, We can't look upon them as they ought
to be looked upon, as simply frail, soap-bubble relationships
and gifts and God gave them, the Lord gave and the Lord has
taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
That's the third lesson he learned. He learned the brevity of life.
Secondly, he learned the frailty of possessions. And I'm talking
about health, too. I'm not talking about health
as well as wealth. I'm not just talking about the outward things
we have. I'm talking about everything
that God has given. He saw the hand of God in everything.
He said, the Lord gave. The Lord gave. He saw that everything
he had, God gave it to him. He didn't say, I earned this. I earned this. These were my
cattle and my sheep and my camels and my house and my children
and my friends. I deserve these things. They're
the product of hard work. I've given my life to these things. No, you know, my friend, they're
the gift of God. If I have any intelligence, God
gave it to me. I was sitting in the airport
in Atlanta waiting on a plane the other day, and a lady came
in with her retarded son. He looked to be about 22 or 23,
but he came walking in behind her, and then she left. He walked
out behind her and had his cap pulled down over his ears, and
I thought to myself, who maketh thee to differ? What hast thou
that thou didst not receive? Not only do I not have a retarded
son, but I'm not retarded. I could be. I have some intelligence,
but God gave it to me. If you have a health, God gave
it to you. Everything we have physically
is the gift of God. Every good gift and every perfect
gift cometh from God. Everything we have materially
is a gift of God. The Lord gave, the Lord gave,
the Lord gave, Job said. Thank God his son is his gift
too. God so loved the world he gave
his son. This is the record. God has given us eternal life.
The wages of sin is death. The gift of God is eternal life.
Everything we have, God gave it. God gave it. Repentance is the gift of God.
The goodness of God leads you to repentance. Faith is the gift
of God. For by grace are you saved through
faith, that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. God one day convicted me of my
sin, God one day revealed Christ to me, God one day brought me
to faith, God one day revealed him as my Redeemer, one day God
will raise me from the tomb. Everything I have is the gift
of God. He's the author and finisher
of our faith. That's what Job learned here. He learned the
brevity of life, he learned the frailty of earthly possession,
but he learned this fact, God gave it. God gave it. Turn to 1 Corinthians 4, verse
7. This verse, I feel like it ought
to be read. 1 Corinthians 4, verse 7. For who maketh thee to differ
from another? Who maketh thee to differ from
another? And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Just
what do you have that God didn't give you? Now if you received
it, why do you glory? Some of you ladies have beauty. God gave it to you. Some of you
men have strength. God gave it to you. Some of you
have more than others, but God gave it to you. Some have gifts
and talents. Mike, you can sing, but God gave
it to you. You'd sound like a croaking bull
if it wasn't for his grace. That's right. You know it, don't
you? Why do you glory? Why should you be lifted up in
any measure with any amount of pride? Some of you have been
blessed materially. Why should you feel any thought
of pride at all? God gave it to you. Why do you
act like you didn't receive it? You act like you deserve it.
God gave. Now you look at this next line.
Job goes on. He says, And the Lord hath taken
away. Job saw the hand of God in all
that was given and in all that was taken. Job didn't say, now
here we are. This messenger came in and said,
the Sabaeans fell upon your servants and destroyed them and stole
all your camels and all your sheep. And Job said, those wicked
Sabaeans! Why, we ought to take a band
down there and destroy them! Another one said, the Chaldeans
have come upon your servants and fell upon the camels and
killed all the servants and taken away. Oh, those wicked Chaldeans! No, he didn't say that. Somebody
else came in and said, all your ten children, seven boys and
three girls, were in one house eating, and a tornado, a hurricane
came and blew that house to... Oh, that terrible tornado! I
hate tornadoes! No, he didn't say that. That's
what we're prone to do. We're prone to blame the second
causes. We're prone to blame the second
causes. Job got to the heart of the matter.
He said, The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away. Why should we be angry with second
causes? Someone shoots down, I know this
is maybe not a good illustration, Some criminal shoots down a loved
one of yours, and the loved one dies. And all your anger and
wrath is against that, our, I should say, our anger and wrath is against
that murderer. Hang him! Destroy him! Wait a
minute now, that's the second cause. The first cause is the
Lord gave, who gave? And the Lord, that man didn't
take him away. That man didn't take him, God
took him away. I refuse to base my faith on second causes. My
confidence in faith is in him who does all things well. And
no use getting yourself in a state of anger and wrath and unspiritual
condition, fighting second causes and third causes and fourth causes.
God's the first cause of all things. You say, you believe
that? I sure do. And that's what Job
said here. And the Lord had taken away.
Turn to Leviticus 10, verse 3. Let me show you a verse of Scripture
here. Leviticus 10, verse 3. This is a good verse here. Look
at Leviticus 10, verse 1. Leviticus 10, verse 1. And, Nay,
thereof, and about you the sons of Abel. Now, these are his sons,
sons of Abel. took either of them, his censer,
and put fire therein, and put incense therein, thereon, and
worshiped, and brought strange fire before the Lord, which he
commanded them not to do. And there went out fire from
the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.
And Moses said, Even this is that the Lord spake, saying,
I'll be sanctified in them that come nigh to me, and before all
the people I'll be glorified." Now watch that line. Avon held
his peace. Avon held his peace. Avon just
kept quiet about the whole thing. He saw the destruction of these
boys that had brought strange fire and offended a holy God,
and God swept them away and destroyed them. Avon never said one word.
That's what Job said. The Lord gave and the Lord hath
taken away. Now look at the last thing that Job learned. He learned
the brevity of life. He learned the frailty of all
possessions. He learned that the Lord gave
everything. The Lord, in his wisdom, has
a right to take it away any time he will. And last of all, he
learned that the Lord is worthy to be praised in all things. And he said, Blessed be the name
of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Paul, in writing in 1 Thessalonians 5.18, makes this statement, In
everything give thanks. In everything give thanks. In
a wedding or a funeral, in a loss or a gain, in sickness or in
health, in success or in failure, in summer or in winter, in everything
give thanks. I'm not preaching to you only,
I'm preaching to myself. I'm not claiming that I do that,
but I'm claiming I'm supposed to. And I'm claiming that if
we have the right relationship with our God, we will do this. And it's not enough to say, I
can't do it. It's not sufficient to dismiss
it with the weakness of this flesh. That's what God says. In everything give thanks. But
here's the beauty of that. Here's what makes it possible.
He says in everything give thanks for this is the will of God for
you. This is the will of God. This
is what God wills for you. This is what God's wisdom. This
is the place. The reason I thank God in loss
as well as in gain because this is his will for you. Loss is
his will. Trial is his will. Sorrow is
his will right now. This is the experience that God's
will for you right now. And it's all in wisdom. It's
for your good. It's for his glory. It'll result
in his ultimate praise and your ultimate grace and glory. So this is his will for you right
now, whatever it is. We pray thy will be done. He
said, if you ask anything according to my will, it shall be done.
So give thanks for this experience because this is God's will for
you right now. You see that? I wish I could
make that clear. I may feel the lash, I may feel
the pain, I may feel the burden, I may feel the grief. But I will
not charge God with foolishness. I will bless his name at all
times. His praise shall continually
be in my mouth in everything, giving thanks." Although I don't
understand it, and I can't possibly fathom how this can result in
any glory for God or any good for me, but he says this is his
will for you. If you were his child, it couldn't
have happened if he hadn't willed it. There's no way it could have
happened. Even when Satan came there in
the midst of the sons of God, God had to give him permission
to afflict Job. He said, all right, Job is in
your hands. There are certain limits. You
cannot put your hand on his body or his person. Whatever else
he has is in your hands. So whatever takes place in my
life, it is the will of God for me at that time. And I'm to give
thanks for it. I'm not to question his purpose
or question his wisdom or question his providence. I am to rejoice. Nothing wrong with weeping. If
you slapped me, it'd hurt. And tears would come to my eyes.
Nothing wrong with responding or reacting to pain or to sorrow
or to greed. But the attitude is where the
sin is. When I began to charge God with foolishness, when I
began to grow bitter and complain, when I began to compare my lot
with someone else's lot, no, let's learn the brevity of life.
I came and I'll be gone tomorrow maybe or next day. And naked
I came and naked I'm going to leave, I'm going to leave everything
here. Maybe God will be pleased to take it before I leave, I
don't know. But he gave it. He has a right to take it away,
and whatever he does, we are to praise his name, because that's
the will of God for you. Let's bow and pray. Father, we thank thee for the
confidence and assurance of this blessed word. What strength we
draw from this book. What assurance we draw from every
promise of thy word. It's so we rejoice, O Lord, that
whatever happens today, we can know that it's the will of God
for us and we may feel the lash and feel the pain and feel the
burden and carry the grief and experience the disappointment
and feel the absence of our close ones. But it's thy will. And
we want so much, desperately, sincerely, we want so much to
be able from our hearts, not with these lips to utter idle
words that anyone can say, but we want from our hearts to genuinely
and honestly be able to say, the Lord gave and the Lord has
taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
And deliver us, O Lord, from living in the midst of second
causes and blaming second causes. Let us look to Thee. None can
afflict thine own. A thousand shall fall at our
right hand and ten thousand at our left, but it can't come nigh
unto us except you will it. Teach us that. Teach us thy way,
O Lord. Teach us thy way. For Christ's
sake we pray. Amen. Brother Don, you come and
lead a psalm for us. Let's turn to number 17. Stand, please. Come the fount of every blessing,
turn my heart to sing Thy grace. Streams of mercy never ceasing,
call for songs of loudest praise. The melody has sounded, sung
by flaming tongues of old. Praise the man, thy face afforded,
mouth of Ireland. Oh, to grace how great a debtor
daily I'm constrained to be. Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee. Pronged to run, O Lord, I feel
it, Pronged to leave the God I love, Is my heart, O take and
seal it, Seal it for Thy courts above.

Four Things Learned In the Time of Trouble

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Four Things Learned In the Time of Trouble

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